Improvement in dies for splke-machines



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL CAMERON, or rifrrsnunc, PENNSYLVANIA..

IMPROVEMENT IN DIES FOR SPIKE-MACHiNES.

Specification forming part ol' Leiters Patent No. 117,928, dated May 3U, 1365; alllcdlcll T0 @ZZ 10700171A it may concern.-

Beit known that I, SAMUEL Gwinnett, of the city of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Dies for Spike and Rivet Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,

' and exact description thereof, reference being had to the annexed drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figures l and 2 represent a pair of my improved dies, Fig. l being the right-hand die, and Fig. 2 the left-hand die, the rea-r end and inner face of both dies being shown. Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section of my improved dies when in use and closed, showing the shape of the shank of a spike formed between them. Fig. 4. is a longitudinal vertical section through x x in Fig; 3, showing a railroad-spike in the position it occupies when in the matrix formed by the conjunction of the two dies. Fig. 5 is a perspective representation of the removable clip on which the spikes are pointed. Fig. G is a representation of a round-head spike made upon my dies.

In the several gures like letters of refer ence denote similar parts.

My dies are especially designed for the manufacture of railroad-spikes having fluted Shanks, although some of the improvements contained therein are applicable to dies for making spikes or bolts with round or square shanks, or for rivets.

The spikes represented in Figs. 4 and 6 have iiuted shanks, the object of which is to give the spike a better hold in the wood into which they may be driven with less weight of iron.

It has been found very difficult to construct a machine to manufacture fluted spikes to advantage, owing to the concavity or groove in the shank; but with the use of my dies such spikes may be made as easily as the round or square shanked spike.

Another improvement `is in the use of a movable clip at the rear end of one of the dies, upon which the point of the spike is formed by the pointing-die, so that'by removing the clip and substituting another in its place different shapes of points may be made, and so that by removing the pointing-clip the projections on the dies for forming the grooves or flutes may be planed, and also that when the May 17, isos.

front end of the die is ground downto remove the roughness y produced by the heading-tool the pointingclip may be taken out and dressed down, so as to compensate for ythe reduced length of the die by bringing theface on which the point isf formed correspondingly near to the end of the clip7 and enable the dies, although thus ground down and reduced in length, to make spikes of 'the same length as before, also, in so shaping the operative faces of the diesas to make the :neck of the spike,

for a short distance below the. head, square,

while the body of the spike below the neckis fiuted. p I

To enable others skilled in the art to construct and use my improvements, I will proceed to describe them more in detail.

The dies a, Fig. 1, and b, Fig.` 2, are made of iron or steel, and instead of being solid, as is usual, are made hollow, having a cavity of the general sha-pe of the outside of the dies, the sides and bottom of the dies being made sufficiently strong tol sustain the pressure required to shape the spike. Along the inner or operativefaee of each die, near to the top, are a row of small holes, c, which allow ofthe escape of the water, which is caused to enter the cavity of the dies in a`- continuons stream, the water thus overflowing and running down the face of each die. By this means the dies are prevented from becoming overheated much more effcctually than by the ordinary method of causing water to run over their exterior surface. Thedies a and b are so set in the machine that when brought together to form a spike their perpendicular faces are in close contact, leaving a cavity of the shape shown at cl in Fig. 3 for forming the uted shank of the spike. This cavity is formed by making an overhanging projection, c, on the righthand die, extending from its front end to the place where the point of the spike commences, as seen in Fig. l, and a corresponding projection, f, at the lower part of the face of the lefthand die, extending the whole length of that die, as seen in Fig. 2. The width of these projectons c and f is equal to the extreme width of the spike at its edges. The operative face of these projections is convex, as at g, Fig. 2, corresponding exactly with the concavty or flute to be .inade on the shank of the spike, and extendsthe whole length of the shank of the spike, excepting at the point and for a short distance from the front end of the die, if a square neck is desired; if not, the convexity extends all the way to the front end of the dies. A similar convexity, h, Fig. 2, and h', Fig. l, is made on the perpendicular face of each die, which is at right angles to the operative face of the projections f and e, respectively, by which the flutes on the opposite sides of the shank of the spike are made. By this means the iron rod, first heated to awelding heat and placed on the convex face of the projection of the stationary .die b, is pressed by the closing of the other die, a, into the fluted shape shown in Fig. 3. The cavity of the dies at the front end, where the convexity ceases, is square, which forms the square neck t' to the spike, as shown in Figs. 4 and 6. The projection e does not extend on the right-hand die farther than the place where the spike beginsto taper for the point, so as to allow of the passage between the perpendicular faces ofthe dies,when closed, of thepointingdie. The point of the spike is formed by a cam-die (not shown in the drawings) against the curved face of the clip lf. (See Figs. 2 and 4.) rlhis clip is of the shape shown in Fig. 5, having atongue,1, at right angles to the operative part of the clip k, which tongue Z, enters a groove in the rear end ofthe lefthand die, Z, and is secured in place by the set-screw x. The clip is supported by the ledge formed by the projection f at the rear end of the die b. If apoint of different shape is required, or if the spike is required to be longerhthe clip 7c is removed by unscrewing the screw x and replacing it by another clip of the required shape and length ofpoint. The great advantages of this movable pointingclip are that when the dies are being made or when they require dressing, the

vclip being removed, the convex surfaces g h of the' operative part of the dies may be better planed off than if the clip were in the way,

and that the clip itself may be dressed down yon its curved face, when required to compen- 'dies for spike or rivet machines, what I claim as my invention, andV desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The use of dies for spike-machines, made to overlap each other, each having two convex operative faces at right angles to each other, one such face being horizontal and the other perpendicular, for the purpose of making spikes with iluted Shanks, substantially as de scribed.

2. The use of a removable clip for forming the point of the spike, so constructed, as hereinbefore described, as that its operative face may be ground. down from time to time whenever it may be necessary to dress off the head of the die, so as to compensate for the reduced length of the die, and thereby obviate the necessity of using new dies when the head end of the die becomes worn, substantially as here` inbefore set forth.

3. The use of dies for spike-machines havy` ing plane operative faces for a short distance below the head ofthe spike, and convex operative faces elsewhere, for the purpose of making a iiuted` spike with a square neck, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I, the said SAMUEL CAMERON, have hereunto set my hand.

SAMUEL CAMERON. lXVit-nesses:

FR. BAHN, A. S. NICHoLsoN. 

